Moonshadow Lullaby
by Laiika
Summary: A romance between Remus and Lily; spanning the summer between fourth and fith year. Slow building. Written for the 'Summer it All Began' Challenge.
1. Prologue

This is the entry chapter into the 'Summer it all Began' challenge.  
>This isn't complete though this and another story have taken precedence this month adn since August appears to be Anti-Writing month for myself and my friends I'm quite happy with everything I have gotten done.<p>

This is, as per the challenge I recieved, a summer romance that blossoms between Remus and Lily, it takes place summer before fifth year.

TOC may be undergoing a rewrite, after a nasty review I haven't worked on it, nor have I edited it.  
>Scarves has one chapter left and I am undecided on whether an epilogue will be added.<p>

Enjoy.

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><p><strong>Moonshadow Lullaby<strong>

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><p><em>ML;<em> Prologue

**oOo**

As old as forever, as young as never.

.

_'A twinkle in the Night Sky, far, far away…'_

**A Breath.**

_'A Golden Star I gazed upon in my Dreams…'_

**A Smile.**

_'On a Sleepless evening I sing Alone…'_

**A Tear.**

_'Tomorrow I'll sing With You…'_

**A Grimace.**

_'…on the Wings of a Dream'_

**And Darkness.**

**oOo**

James pulled the book from his friend's slack hands, the musty tome on the different theories on Shield Charms and their structures, things that James could accomplish but had no idea what were, really. He eyed the young man before him, the tawny hair was obscuring his face, long enough that the man could wear it like many of the witches at Hogwarts did, combed back and in a loose ponytail at the back. His chin rested close to his chest, leaning on the window of their compartment; arms folded slightly as they had been holding the tome (that had been _this _close to hitting the floor before being removed). The pale face had deep shadows under the hollows of eyes, from both lack of sleep and lack of sun from their exams of the previous weeks. There was a soft look to the robes he wore; they were well-worn from use and scuffed from the many trysts of mischief from being the 'mind' of the Marauders.

James sat back down on his seat across from the werewolf, the last of the four boys that were known as the Marauders. He wasn't the youngest, nor the smallest. He wasn't weak by any means, but both he and Sirius had 'protective' issues around the boy, he and Sirius had discussed this before, he glanced at the other pureblood, his long hair curled about on Peter's shoulder, both on the floor. He smirked, their werewolf could definitely hold his own, as those two in the heap, albeit comfortable looking, were there because they had been fighting and Remmy had grown tired of it and snapped a powerful stunner at them. James didn't think they would wake for a few more hours.

He had discussed there weird protective feelings with Sirius before. Many times. The first time they had 'exercised' their urges had been back in second year, the year end feast when they'd seen Remus looking so dejected about leaving school. He and Sirius had pulled the mother of all pranks, at that point anyway, and mud cakes had rained from the sunny skies above.

They had decided, though, in the latter half of third year that the urges were deeply rooted from their pureblood upbringing, the fact that they knew the boy's fate, had heard grisly stories of captured werewolves. Peter wouldn't understand, he was muggleborn.

Remus awoke with a start, eyes wide and the whites clearly showing as his head snapped up, alert and golden before their light died down to their usual honeyed amber. He stretched and gave a sharp-toothed yawn, smiling crookedly, "Mh, Prongs. How long was I out?" he shook his head, eyes roaming the ground, his lap.

"Looking for this, Moon?" James held the thick book and gave it a little shimmy accompanied by a customary smirk. "About an hour, maybe? I wasn't paying attention."

With a huff Remus nodded, "Yes," he stood to stretch better, grabbed the book and shoved it in his bag, all in a fluid movement, he turned his head to James, "About two more hours, you think? I believe we'll arrive just before five?"

With an exaggerated roll of his eyes James nodded, "Yes Remmy, the final moments of our fourth year are fast approaching, whatever will we do?"

"OWLs are next year, James. We'll study if you'd like?" Remus quirked an eyebrow in question, tilting his head a bit and setting his arm across his lap in a 'your choice' gesture.

James paled and jumped up, aghast, and threw an arm across his chest, his voice wavered as if in fear, "You wouldn't!"

"Yes, James. I would," Remus rolled his eyes as James ducked his head and fell to his knees gasping, Remus shook his head, his hair flying about like James' own usually did. Neither boy noticed the door opening.

"Must you be so dramatic?" two voices asked in unison, one decidedly amused but trying to convey annoyance while the other was an exasperated, feminine, tone with disapproval clearly shown.

James stopped his writhing on the floor and stared up at the door, over the heads of his dearest friend and brother-of-his-heart to look into the fiery eyes of emerald. "My love!"

The young woman shook her head at James' antics, her face bore a look of utter disgust. "I just came to tell you to have a great summer, Remus; I'll see you later?"

While James pretended to die of a broken heart Remus nodded slightly, "Of course Lily, you as well."

She turned, hesitated and looked back at him, "Why are they on the floor? Not that I disagree with them belonging there or anything."

James jumped up before Remus could answer her, "Well, my lovely little Fire-Cracker, they were fighting and since our young Remmy here wasn't feeling the greatest he Stunned 'em!"

Lily glared but tilted her body to see behind James (much to his sudden depression if his sudden falling and gasping of dying indicated) and look at her friend, "Are you okay? Are you sick?"

Remus fought a wince but nodded, "I'm fine Lily, just our exams, you know. I didn't sleep much," he chuckled, looking pale as he turned to the window.

"Well, if you say so. I'll see you," and with that the door slid shut and James joined the three in sleep as Remus tucked his wand back into his sleeve.

**oOo**

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><p><em>AN at the top :D<em>

**oOoOoOoOo**


	2. Home

**Moonshadow Lullaby**

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><p><em>ML; <em>Home

**oOo**

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><p>The Lupin house was one of… obscurity. It was just like all the other houses on the block, just like all the other houses on 'this side of the train station'. They weren't exactly 'cookie cutter' houses, just growing old and falling apart in the same way. In reality many were just approaching a decade. Remus knew which was his easily, it was the only one with a large sign that said 'Beware of Dog' in the window, a cheap little yellow sign that had been there for almost as long as the other houses.<p>

A 'gift' his father got for him. Remus shuddered as he climbed the tiny stairs up to the front door, unsurprised to find it unlocked even though his father was most definitely at work, he tried to keep up the appearance at school but he didn't have to do that here; not when he was alone.

The insides of the house were near bare, the walls peeling slightly while the rooms themselves were smallish and cozy, they didn't have much in them at all. Spartan style. Except for his fathers room, though Remus wasn't sure he could recall what his parents room had even looked like way back when.

He ignored the kitchen and his slight hunger and moved through the room, past the door that led up to his father room on the top floor, the tiny bathroom they shared and the door that would lead back to their front room and the main door and opened the door that led to the diminutive hallway with it's three step to another door, one that led to the backyard, and around the corner and down into the dark and dank basement that housed him for the majority of his summers and the later years of his 'youth'. His childhood had ended long before he became acquainted with the Basement.

The door bore three locks, each thick deadbolts designed to keep him in, rather than out like they had when he was a child and it had been his mothers work space, he easily pushed the door open, greeted by the sight of four steps down, two left and a wide open pit. He stepped down the stairs and shut the door, blocking the only light source until he flipped the switch high upon the wall beside the door. The room flooded with light.

The pit was exactly that, a hole dug out and widened to the point it was probably extending past the house walls, not that there _were _any down here, his father had done this while he was 'out' when he was younger, pre-Hogwarts young. Remus looked at where there was cemented walls, about a meter off the ground, maybe a meter and a half. There were shelves affixed, no, dug into, every bit of the cement. There were hundreds of books on every single shelf. Each looked mainly well read, well loved and well take care of. There was a large rock, huge really. It was as tall as he was and flattish on the top, dug down and filled with a bed, grooves were cut out to act as stairs on a ramp-like side so he, and his wolf, could get up there to sleep. There were chains hanging down of a shiny metal-alloy that were affixed to lights, magical like most in the house; designed by his mother and sold by his father for their main income now. Not that they used it. There were lovely rust coloured patches among the lower parts of cement not cushioned with the dirt. Remus turned his attention to the large dresser, charmed Impervious and still covered in deep gouges and rusted patched, the knobs that once allowed easy access now destroyed and helped to pad the floor of dirt with their dust.

There were only two other pieces of furniture in the room, one was a couch so dilapidated and old that Remus had never even seen it before it had been given to him, oddly enough the Wolf left it alone frequently, and a lovely stone dais-like chair that was actually quite comfortable what with it's numerous cushioning charms and gouges. The wolf quite liked to perch here, it was his throne. Remus' reading chair, perched right below the brightest of lights and in a corner, safe from the door and it's freedoms.

Remus climbed up onto his bed, curling into it's familiar warmth and cushions, he was fast asleep long before his father would have came home.

oOo

The lights had shut off when Remus awoke, the only one that was on was beside the stairs, this was a charm Remus had added to 'comfort' the wolf, and himself. It allowed the lights to go off on there own, one at a time with five minute intervals between if the chains went over an hour without being touched, unless of course he was in the chair. He had done this so if he had a nap, or fell asleep reading in bed as he was wont to do, they would turn off and not wake him later, the wolf appreciated having light for a while on the full moon nights, but liked the dark just as much, and since the one by the stairs never went off unless the switch was flicked they could both pretend it was the moon. A comfort really.

He sat up and stretched, casting a quick Tempus that told him it was just before six, his loud stomach also protested the sixteen hours, at least, since he had eaten anything. He winced, he forgot often and Peter reminded him, it was their symbiotic relationship. He helped Peter with his work so he could _just _pass and Peter would remind him to eat when he was too busy to remember. Or when Peter was hungry he would offer Remus something from the kitchens, especially on the weekends when James and/or Sirius would be locked up in detention.

He sighed, pulling on the high, thin bar that would open his door, to be greeted with a few thin pieces of paper, mere scraps of a full sheet, dancing in the air before him thanks to some spell he didn't yet know. They all had quick sentences written out in his fathers spiked cursive, they told him: _'Key is in it's place',_ '_I'll be at Saxon's, owl Sundays', _and _'Don't die'. _Remus sighed, having expected nothing less. He knew the drill by now, his father would return here to sleep some days, usually on the weekends, he would bring groceries and a few bits of muggle money once a week or have an owl do so but would leave them out and under charms, and in all other respects, ignore his only son.

_'His only living reminder of the muggleborn he so loved,'_ Remus chuckled dryly.

The fridge was fully stocked, there was a package of used books, books he hadn't read yet, on the table. He smiled, the entire office knew he was a voracious reader and devoured books like most children did sweets; there would be similar stacks delivered throughout the summer, 'gifts' from his father and his fathers staff and colleagues. Mid-august would find the newest list of texts for his classes, some used some new, but he would have all the time he wanted to read; all the time with nothing to mark the passage but a clock. Nothing changed, ever.

He sighed, the stirrings of his loneliness would be staved off with books but he couldn't read his entire life, he had to eat. And clean, definitely clean. The house was a disaster, would be at the start of every summer. His father hated this house, hated the blood soaked into their backyard, the only spot nothing grew; not even weeds. His father had a floo in his room, he often travelled by it, or he would clamber down to the kitchens and return to his domain within minutes. Remus hadn't physically _seen _his father for more than a few hours all of last summer. It was their life.

Remus cooked himself some quick slices of French toast, slathering some of the chocolate-maple syrup that was on the counter, a gift from his father he knew; not that it lessened the sting of being alone or anything. He ate slowly and cleaned the kitchen, his wand swishing easily about the room to set it straight. The rickety table was fixed with a quick Reparo to tighten the bolts and reattach the knob on one of the legs, to keep it from scratching the floor and to level it. He cast another Tempus, revelling in the fact that was nearly half nine; more than a full two hours since he awoke.

"Well, Remmy! Time to start that homework then, hum?" he muttered to himself. Remus retrieved his worn old bag and trunk from the closet between the front door, now locked tightly, and the wall that separated the living room and the hall that circled the home. He slid out his books and gave each a tap, incanting a softly spoken charm that would return them to their shelves downstairs and did the same to his trunk, sending it to a space near his bed, he hung up his bag after removing a few quills and parchment, the parchment with his list of summers homework already begun. Each had two parchments, one the original, teacher given copy of what they wanted, how it would be graded, and the other what he had started and the assignment topic. He had started the Transfiguration essay easily enough, they were just comparing inanimate to animate after all, a review of the previous year that they would need to know extensively to continue on for the next level, a Defence 'exam' sheet with over fifty questions and the same for potions. He flipped to the next page, and a feeling of dread swept through him. He had no idea what he was supposed to do for charms, **none**.

He had the teacher sheet, quite clearly Flitwick wanted an essay, sixteen inches, and without error or splotch. He could do that, but where the sheet with the assignment should have been, was an older sheet with an older assignment on it. One had done for review not two weeks prior. The entire essay was condensed on the parchment in the tiniest script still legible, a shrunken sheet. Nothing about the summer assignment at all! He must have switched them the night before, he whimpered, it had been a full moon, a bad one, and he ad been dead tired when he packed. Dead tired in the morning when he had made these ready to go. Too tired to get it right, it seemed.

He felt a slip of panic rise as he thought, both Sirius and James were going to the Glades for the summer with the Potters, neither were reachable. Peter was Peter and while Remus felt desperate, he wasn't that desperate. He pulled his bottom lip into his mouth, he had only one hope; Lily Evans.

She lived in London. Ish. He had spoken to her about it many times, they had determined that the Eye was quite fun to ride on a raining day, and that the zoo needed some new exhibits as did the museum, but he hadn't asked for her address, he hadn't needed it. He did _now._

Remus quickly wrote on the parchment that was supposed to have been the charms assignment his predicament and if she would send him back the topic, hoping she would be his miracle, his lifeline to his homework. He scribbled his name at the bottom and quickly ran to the shelf across from the curtained window beside the door, withdrew an envelope and stuffed the letter in, quickly but carefully. He then sealed it and wrote clearly: _Lily Evans, London._

He stuck the letter into his pocket, still wearing his school clothing minus the robes, and quickly left to go the few blocks to the post office, he would borrow an owl and send off the letter. Hopefully the owl could find her.

**oOo**

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><p><em>AN: two chapters to start the story off.<em>


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